A popular genre of computer games is the role-playing game (RPG) where the human player assumes control of a character or “avatar” in the game. The mass proliferation of such RPGs can be traced to Second Life, a multiplayer online virtual world, where players fashion their own online personae and interact with other players' avatars. The human player can for example move his or her avatar through the virtual environment the game defines and interact with virtual objects in the game space, other avatars controlled by other human players and/or game characters the computer controls.
There is a social dimension to Second Life. Because each human player controls his or her own avatar, interacting with another person's avatar is actually a way to interact with that other person. People can work together through their avatars to create objects in the virtual world. For example, several people can have their avatars team up and work together to go boating, or build or decorate a house. Such high degree of interactivity has allowed human participants to forge friendships and even romances.
Second Life is an example of a role playing game where what happens is almost completely defined by the virtual environment's human participants. Other types of role playing games have a more structured plot. For example, World of Warcraft, another popular massively multiplayer online game, can be considered a form of interactive storytelling as can other “MUDs” (multi-user-dungeon) games. The game developer provides a world and a set of characters for the players to interact with, and he/she determines how the interaction proceeds. For example, the game assigns avatars quests to accomplish. The player's avatars play the heroes, while the game software directs or referees many of the outcomes.
One common characteristic of many or most RPGs is that the multiple players' avatars share a common game space and can play at the same time. Various players throughout the world connect to a network, log to the game server, and play the game simultaneously. The actions of an avatar controlled by a player can affect the actions of other avatars controlled by other players as well as the status of the game. Such multi-avatar interaction occurs when multiple players play together at the same time, i.e., the game being played is a multiplayer game.
A high degree of interactivity in real time in RPGs is attractive to many players. However, some players may not want social interaction while nevertheless enjoying the benefit of a very dynamic virtual world. For example, it would be beneficial to provide a method and a system that allows a single player to play a game without the player having to interact with other players playing the game at the same time. However, it would be desirable if the player's avatar's actions still affect the status of the game and the status of other avatars, like in the conventional multiplayer games, even though the game being played is a single-player game from the perspective of each participant of the game.
In one exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, a single-player game is played where the player controls an avatar in a game space. The actions of the avatar affect the status of other avatars controlled by other human players and/or game characters or virtual game environment controlled by the computer, even though the player's avatar does not interact with avatars of other human players participating in the game at the same time.
In another exemplary illustrative non-limiting implementation, any massively single-playing online game (MSO) may be shared by a great plurality of players who are able to play a favorite game without the simultaneous interaction with other players playing the game at the same time, while having the capability of affecting the status of the game and of the non-player avatars of other players exactly as if they were playing a multiplayer game.
Non-limiting exemplary illustrative features and advantages for exemplary implementations include:                This is a game idea that lets players play a single player game with the benefits of playing with other people without having to physically interact with other people.        Players are fully affected by everything that happens in the game world in the same server that they share.        Each individual player's decision collectively shapes how the game is going to be played.        There is currency that fluctuates depending on the market condition that affects all the cost of living, for example.        If a certain item in the game gets popular, the value of it goes up and all the related events in the game will trigger as another example.        The server polls each game to collect key data each session, and updates its database in real-time to trigger events and set global variables.        Those who want to play games that are more dynamic, not-based on Al and not-pre-scripted like multiplayer games, however, don't want to “deal” with other people, appreciate the privacy it provides.        Online game play with others without actually interacting with others physically.        